Northern Lights in Iceland - Multiverse

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Last Post 3/20/2013 3:56 PM by Claire Raftery

Northern Lights in Iceland

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Anonymous

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3/19/2013 1:21 PM
My family and I are going to Iceland in June, and we were wondering what the chances were for seeing the Northern Lights? Ethan G

Kris Sigsbee

Basic Member

Posts:415

3/19/2013 3:40 PM
Hello Ethan, The best times to see the northern lights in Iceland are probably September through April. The problem is that Iceland is so far north, that during the northern hemisphere summer time, the days are very, very long and the nights are very short. Iceland is mostly below the Arctic Circle, but the days in summer are still very long. You can play with this calculator to see sunrise and sunset times in Reykjavik, Iceland. http://www.timeanddate.co...astronomy.html?n=211 Today (March 19) the sun rose at 7:32 am and set at 7:41 pm for about 12 hours of daylight. On June 1, the sun will rise at 3:23 am and set at 11:31 pm for 20 hours of daylight! On June 14, the sun will rise at 2:58 am and set at midnight. You will not have a very good chance of seeing the northern lights in Iceland this summer, but you will get to experience seeing the Sun in the sky close to midnight! Kris

Claire Raftery

New Member

Posts:71

3/20/2013 3:56 PM
Hi Ethan, While you won't necessarily be able to see the northern lights if the sky is too bright at night (I had the same thing happen to me in Alaska last summer), the chances of there being magnetic storms is pretty high so there is a good chance that there will be aurora, you just may not be able to see them. Claire